Illogical Apple ID Password Rules

Every company and the websites they create has sunken to the default position of requiring passwords so complex and arcane as to be useful to no one Jellytoes. It disappoints me that Apple has joined them in this race to the bottom, though as I pointed out in my post from March 11 they are far from the worst offender.

If I were to be shot down and in extremis the last thing I would remember is any of the 150+ passwords that I need for the various services I use. Clearly these password requirements are not intended for my benefit.

Eventually, someone will have to realize this requirement benefits no one other than lazy IT managers, and propose something better. That someone should be Apple. Until then we just have to play this stupid game.

the problem is that nobody can memorise 100 different passwords.

So, what do we do ?

Post-it® Notes stuck to the monitor.

I'm only being half facetious. When password requirements become so arcane this (or something like it) becomes common.

As dumb as they are, Apple's new password rules hardly the worst I have encountered. One such site requires twelve characters that must include both upper and lower case alpha, at least two non-consecutive numbers, at least two non-alphanumeric characters, and none of them consecutive or repeated. It cannot repeat any of the characters in the same position as the previous password, and must be changed every 30 days. Oh it cannot be one of the past 24 passwords used either.

Good luck.

Having to write it down obviously reduces a password's security, but it also absolves the agency of any blame for allowing trivial passwords. Write it down and it's your fault. The irony is surely lost on the idiots who require such things.

HI,

https://iforgot.apple.com/iForgot/iForgot.html

9:01 PM Monday; December 31, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

HI,

There is one obvious problem with 16 + character passwords of any sort.

Apple IDs issued by Apple (@mac.com, @me.com and @icloud.com) are also valid AIM names and the AIM servers will only pass 16 Characters or LESS ones.

7:48 PM Thursday; May 16, 2013

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.3)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Ahh,

I didn't realise we were assuming this month.

It tends to leave a lot of iChat users in Lion and earlier and Messages users with something to think about.

8:26 PM Thursday; May 16, 2013

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.3)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hi,

These Communities/forums are run by Apple (they employ the few Hosts and have them on their Servers).

Other than that very few Apple People actually spend time here looking at the issues or reading the comments.

From there your post might be regarded as a Rant with no real question about solving anything.

You of course read this - Apple Support Communities Use Agreement when you singed up and you know a rant may well disappear.

As in reality the most experienced posters here have normally come across most issues at some point, either directly or have been here long enough to read about most things, I suggest posting in the Community that deals with your current OS version and tag it for Mail if that is what you need to sort out.

9:30 pm Saturday; March 14, 2015

Apple Doc on the subject (With Characters shown in a table)

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1728

9:43 PM Sunday; March 18, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.3)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Ralph Johns (UK) wrote:

Apple Doc on the subject (With Characters shown in a table)

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1728

You will notice that the Apple Doc never defines what is a "letter"! It refers to a "letter" in the "password requirements", but in the document it omits to define it - the "Name" field not containing "letter" but "lower case" (see my first post, QED)!

As for the "millions use it"; yes, of course they do, eventually, by trial-and-error!

All good points.

What is going on with your various incarnations of the Apple "Keychain" - a staple of OSes for a very long time? With it (them), one could conceivably have a 'passPHRASE' of Many characters remembered for you and auto-populated when needed.

as we users have no say in the matter, you could provide your opinions directly to Apple:

Product Feedback

Support Feedback

best of luck

Twistan wrote:

Hello,

I am pulling my hair out about Apple's illogical way of thinking...

Hello,

The problem lay with the very first "Password must:" rule. It is ambiguous. Apple have specified "letter" thinking this always means "lower case letter", but it obviously does not.

They should have been specifying "lower case letters" and "upper case letters", so why did they choose to use "capitol letter" instead?

I wonder if Apple were afraid of using the terms "lower case" and "upper case" because they believe their customers would not understand the terms? Or, perhaps it was a decision by a committee:-}

But the standard of parts of their web interface is close to bizarre, bordering on comic, so maybe their web team are simply not up to the job?

Weary Cheers...

I find the password system re-assuring as it is more secure like this

I've been getting a lot of complaints about apple's silly rules in configuring a password. So you're not the only one Twistan. I think Apple went over-board on their security, but then again, Apple is the most paranoid company out there.

Well, of course, Twisten, what did you expect. This is the New World Order. Nothing makes sense. It doesn't have to. I have a MacBook Pro with Lion. After using a computer for 30 years, I feel the magic is gone because nothing makes sense, none of the commands, none of the video, nada.